Joelson Fernandes during a training session
According to claims from Portuguese outlet A Bola via Sport Witness (h/t Football London), Arsenal have had a second bid for highly-rated teenager Joelson Fernandes turned down by Sporting Lisbon.
The Gunners have been credited with an interest in the 17-year-old this summer and initially made an offer of £20million, which was rebuffed by the Portuguese giants. (A Bola h/t Daily Express) Fernandes, who has been dubbed the next Cristiano Ronaldo to come through the academy ranks at Sporting, boasts a daunting release clause of £40.8million in his contract.
Arsenal have been trying to take advantage of Sporting’s financial difficulties to get a deal done for much less but the Primeira Liga outfit are demanding a fee close to the player’s release clause.
The Portuguese U-17 starlet has also attracted interest from Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, and it has been claimed that Arsenal will not hesitate to trigger the player’s release clause if the chase for the talented youngster goes down to the wire.
Born in Guinea-Bissau, Joelson Fernandes moved to Portugal at a young age and joined Sporting Lisbon’s youth ranks back in 2012.
The 17-year-old was promoted to train with the first-team squad following the Covid-19 pandemic after impressing across various age-group levels and made 4 senior appearances for the Portuguese heavyweights towards the back end of the previous campaign.
Fernandes has represented Portugal at U-16 and U-17 international levels, though he remains eligible to represent Guinea-Bissau in the future.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette bagged 29 goals and 12 goals respectively in all competitions last season, with record signing Nicolas Pepe also making a positive impression in his debut campaign following a slow start to life in England.
Youngsters Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka were among the top breakout stars in the previous campaign with several crucial moments, thus pointing to a bright future for the pair under Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal scored 56 goals en route their 8th-place finish in the 2019-20 PL as the Gunners were comfortably outscored by the division’s top four – Liverpool (85), Man City (102), Man United (66) and Chelsea (69).
Hence, it goes without saying that Arsenal will need to improve on their returns in the final third if they are to have a realistic chance of challenging for a return to the Champions League. For that to happen, the North Londoners need to prioritise the recruitment of some immediate game-changers in their attack and Joelson Fernandes doesn’t fit the bill in that regard.
Arsenal already have some top-quality young talents like Saka, Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson in their attacking ranks. So it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to fork out a huge amount of cash on a 17-year-old, no matter how talented he is.
The Gunners need to be cautious with their spending and with nagging issues in several key departments in the first-team yet to be resolved, spending the money on Fernandes is a luxury that Arteta simply can’t afford.
Joelson Fernandes seems to have bags and bags of potential if his comparisons with Ronaldo are anything to go by. However, with Arsenal in need of some impact signings to close the gap on the top-four, they need not push too hard for the Sporting Lisbon gem.